@lost in saigon
Qoute:
Climbing 38,000' doesn't necessarily mean they wanted to fly above the storm. I can think of lots of reasons for the climb:
1) turbulence at lower levels
2) more fuel efficient altitude
3) better visual reference to maneuver around the weather
Maybe it was a combination of all three.
with respect to your view I might add few things here:
1/ I have flown in this area for about 15 yrs and wx is known to be as severe as it could be for monsoon season
2/ Crew was probably briefed before the flight about it
3/ Sophisticated glass cockpit environment
4/ Captain probably flying most of his career in the same area
I can't justify your answers as best option to do mainly coz:
a/ FL380 is very close to Max FL for A320,
b/ what kind of fuel efficiency would you expect for a flight of below 2 hrs and would as PIC think of efficiency when you have severe wx conditions
c/ Visual reference in IMC???